Listed energy-from-waste innovator PowerHouse has signed an agreement with Peel Environmental to draw up development plans for its first energy-from-waste plant.

The plant at Ince Marshes between the Mersey, Manchester Ship Canal and M56, would use PowerHouse’s G3-UHt System Ultra High Temperature Gasification system, currently en route to the UK from Australia where it has been undergoing testing.

A memorandum of understanding with Peel Environmental and its subsidiary This is Protos LLP will see PowerHouse pursue the development, construction and operation of a plant at Protos. The time-limited MOU, brokered by Waste2Tricity, will expire on 1 May 2018.

PowerHouse, listed on the Alternative Investment Market, where it is priced at 1p/share and valued at £6m, said in a regulatory announcement: “The joint project envisages the construction of PowerHouse’s first commercial enterprise, utilising the company’s G3-UHt system, at the Protos site together with a proposed plan for the delivery of five energy from waste plants. There is no certainty that the MOU will proceed to definitive agreements between the parties.

Keith Allaun, executive chairman of PowerHouse, said: “Peel Environmental is a national leader in helping create solutions to the UK’s waste challenges. With multiple waste management sites located across the UK, Peel has the experience to see projects from green-field through to completion. Their vision for Protos; creating a robust energy-from-waste and alternative energy ecosystem in a single, large, and fully integrated facility makes them an ideal partner for a company like ours.”

Protos received a £6m loan from the North West Evergreen Fund, which is partly financed by European Union state aid.

In October, Peel scaled down plans for the largest energy-from-waste plant at protos from 95MW to 35MW. A separate 21.5MW biomass plant is currently under construction with CoGen.

Protos covers 126 acres and will be split into various development parcels for different occupiers and uses.

Peel had an agreement with US energy group Covanta from 2010 to 2015, when Covanta exited the joint venture. Peel said Covanta retains an interest but could not confirm if it would operate power plants at Protos.